Lizzie Borden Society Forum

As time goes by and I get older I become more and more interested in my ancestry. Who am I really? Where did my family come from originally? These kinds of questions. I am very involved in learning the genealogy of my own family and have been working on it for some time.

This is a picture of my great-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. It was my grandfather's grandmother. Did I say that right? I think so. I always get people confused when trying to explain family connections. Anyway, I also am very fascinated by the old photographs of my relatives. I also posted a picture awhile back of my great grandmother as a child. It's very difficult sometimes to place what time these pictures were taken, and the age of the person in the picture.

It's actually just a black and white photo, although the copy looks more sepia tone. My crappy scanner again. I'll get a new one someday . I realize that because I find them fascinating it doesn't mean everyone will . But I was hoping maybe someone could give me some tips on how to date old photographs. I've tried looking things up on the internet, and they give you some handy clues, but so far none have helped me out.

Wow, she's a beauty!
Thanks for the picture!

She has a strong chin!

If you can estimate the the birth year of your grandfather, you might be able to figure out the age here of his grandmother.
Adding 2 generations -probably +40 years?
(One giving birth at average 20 and the next giving birth at average 20).

I'd say she looks about between 21 and 25. She still looks "dewy."

If there was more clothing visible, Edisto could probably date it in the ballpark.

I just called my grandfather and asked him what year he was born. That part was easy enough . He was born on April 30, 1936. There were four siblings born before him. His mother Della was born, according to the Social Security Death Index, on November 2, 1910. I have no idea at this time how many siblings Della had, or in what order she was born. I didn't have time to ask that many questions and I am unsure myself how many she had at this point.

Just a wild guess here, but the young lady in that photo there looks to be somewhere between 17-20 years old, plus or minus two years. (My gut feeling is 22, but that could be indigestion.) That hairstyle is great!

Odd, my paternal grandma was 49 weeks to the day older than this young lady. Now I'll have to hunt and see if I can find pictures of her at about that age...

Well, the lady in the picture is Della's mother.She is my great-great- grandmother. I'm still trying to figure out how old she was. I am not sure exactly when she was born. I'm just trying to do like Kat said and go by generations. My great grandmother Della was born Novemeber 2, 1910.If her mother was was possibly 20 when Della was born then she was born around 1890 give or take a few years? But what if Della wasn't her first child and she was older? I guess I can only shoot for a time range instead of a definite date?

Wow, cool pic, Melissa, I love old photos! Is she actually wearing lipstick? It may have been just for the photo, but, I've never seen that before. Has the photo been retouched at all? Wish I had more old photos of my family, they are such a treasure.

As far as I know the picture has not been retouched. It's been kept in an album for, well for as long as I can remember. I can remember being very young and looking through the albums at these black and white photographs. I didn't have the respect and fascination for them then. My thoughts then were more along the lines of "Wow, they wore funny clothes."

Yes, I would estimate 1890 by the birthdate of your grandfather's mother- as an average- give or take a couple of years.
It's not that she was born in 1890, but that this woman would be possibly 20 in 1890. I know you know what I mean, because you figured it out.

I'll bet your grandad was glad to hear from you!

A Gertrude Crawford is listed in the 1920 census, living in the correct state and county, and she is given a birth date of "abt 1886". She is the only Gertrude Crawford listed in that particular county so it has to be her. So I'm working from a birth year of 1886.

Do you mean a birth year plus 20?
I'm getting confused.
That yr. gggrandmother was abt. 20 when the pic was taken, and if she was born in 1886, the pic might be taken c. 1906?
Do you think it's as late as that?

Yeah, I mean she was born in 1886. So if she was 20 the picture would've been taken in 1906.

Hi Allen,
Thats a wonderful photograph, she was a beautiful woman! Here are two of my grandparents-can you see where we get the Irish and Italian mix??
My grandmother was born in 1886! Amazing> She would have remembered Lizzie






kash

Wow thanks for the pictures Kash! They definitely show a different style of photography than the one I posted. I'm assuming these pictures were taken with a personal camera? Both of them are nice looking folks. I want to go back through those family albums again now. That is amazing to think they were living in the same time period as Lizzie you're right.

those old family pictures that we used to laugh at are actually gems, aren' they?? Thanks!

k

You are so right Kash. Photos like these are gems. They are indeed worth a thousand words.

Here's my maternal grandmother's photo taken in 1896 in Haverstraw, NY. She was a fine Irish girl, Catherine (nee: Shanahan) Baier. Came to the USA as a baby. She married my grandfather, Andrew. Yes, Andrew. Seems everybody was named Andrew back then.

Harry, that is a great picture. That is a very lovely dress she is wearing, and she is lovely as well! The picture is circa 1896, the Borden tragedy was still fresh in everyone's minds then. Our Miss Lizzie was in Maplecroft. I wonder if our relatives were as caught up in the case as we are? Did they talk about it? Thanks to both of you for sharing your pictures!

I think they had to have read at least something about it, especially the trial. It was front page in the major papers.

After the trial there was a long stretch of years where not much appeared about the case until Pearson resurrected it,

The Fall River Globe printed its annual anniversary article for about 20 years after but that was a local paper.

Lovely picture, Harry. She was a beautiful young woman!

k